After 16 months in prison, Vaiko rues the day he supported POTA

But he swears by A.B. Vajpayee’s leadership and reiterates his anti-Congressism. ‘‘I am quite confident that the Congress will not be able to come to power at the Centre in the next elections. They do not have a leader like Vajpayee. After Nehru and Indira Gandhi, only now we have a great leader as our Prime Minister. Vajpayee has risen to the level of a statesman and that too of international repute,’’ he says.

Does it mean that Vaiko and his party would remain in the NDA in the next polls? Vaiko the politician is shrewd enough to leave some space. ‘‘Time is not ripe for deciding that. Electoral alliances will be decided only on the eve of the polls,’’ he says.

But for 16 months, he has been far away from New Delhi, where his party shares power with other NDA allies. The Dravidian leader has been spending time in Vellore prison, reading newspapers and writing letters. ‘‘My love for writing letters enables me to be in constant touch with my partymen, political leaders and the media. On an average, I write 15 letters a day and receive 50 in the cell. Reading newspapers, almost all the ones available, I keep myself abreast of the day-to-day happenings,’’ he says in an exclusive interview with The Indian Express at the Poonamallee POTA court.

This is how his day is: It starts at 4.30 and by 6.00 a.m. he is out of his cell for a morning walk within the prison premises. By 7.00 he gets the newspapers and finish them by 9.30. After breakfast (either upma or wheat dosa), he reads books. ‘‘I have a nap after lunch at 1.30 p.m. Every evening and on Sunday mornings I play volleyball with other prisoners. All of them, the prison officials as well as the inmates, have been quite nice to me,’’ he says. His dinner (two chapatis and dal) is in his cell by the time he returns from the volleyball court. ‘‘But I have it only at 10.30 to avoid sleeping early. By then it goes totally dry. But then, that is prison life for you,’’ he says.

Vaiko says he stopped eating non-vegetarian food after his arrest. ‘‘One can also buy eggs, but I don’t. Despite the harshness of the prison, I’ve not been tempted to pamper my palate though I used to eat chicken and fish daily as a free man. The night sleep is normally undisturbed because of the mosquito net,’’ he says.

Months in jail, however, hasn’t changed his ideas. ‘‘I am willing to court sufferings for the things I stand for,’’ he says. He thinks the LTTE’s proposals are positive and the Sri Lankan government should accept them. ‘‘After all, the LTTE’s demand falls short of a separate country. The European Union has welcomed it. It is in the interest of all, including India, to see that fighting in the island is brought to an end. India cannot turn a blind eye to the issue because both China and US are targeting Sri Lanka to set up their base there. If it happens, our security will be under threat,’’ he says.